Short-handed Cornhuskers no match for Volunteers
MUSIC CITY BOWL: TENNESSEE 38, NO. 24 NEBRASKA 24
nashville, tenn.» Joshua Dobbs finished his Tennessee career making one final move, helping All-America defensive lineman Derek Barnett figure out how to lead the band in “Rocky Top.”
“I was a little nervous,” Barnett said with a laugh.
Dobbs quickly chimed in: “He asked me what to do.”
The duo led Tennessee in celebrating Friday after the Volunteers beat No. 24 Nebraska 38-24 in the Music City Bowl. Dobbs ran for three touchdowns and 118 yards and threw for 291 yards and another TD, while Barnett got the sack he needed to break a tie with the late Reggie White for the Volunteers’ career record.
The Volunteers (9-4) beat a Big Ten team in a bowl game for a third consecutive year and posted their first win in three tries against the Cornhuskers. It’s the first time Tennessee has won three consecutive bowl games since 1994-96, when Peyton Manning was the Vols’ quarterback.
“Great competitor,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said of Dobbs. “I knew he was going to play one of his best games. I was worried he was too amped up before the game. I told him he had four quarters of football, don’t win it in the first quarter, take what they give you.”
Tennessee took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter and finished with 521 total yards, compared with Nebraska’s 318.
Nebraska started the season 7-0 but finished with a 9-4 record. The Cornhuskers lost four of their final six games after rising as high as No. 7 in the national rankings.
Ryker Fyfe, a fifth-year senior and former walk-on, started at quarterback for the injured Tommy Armstrong Jr., a four-year starter. Fyfe pulled Nebraska within a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He threw two TD passes to Brandon Reilly and ran for a 9yard touchdown with 10:02 left in the fourth quarter to pull the Cornhuskers within 31-24.
But Dobbs answered with a 59yard TD pass to Josh Malone for the final margin, and second-year Nebraska coach Mike Riley said Dobbs’ athleticism was a factor.
“He did a nice job of throwing balls right on time,” Riley said. “But it looked like to me, too, that when it wasn’t there, he moved around and bought time.”